4 years now…. SOBER!!! 

Yyyaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
4 years and some days counting now….. a journey, its been.
One having a lot of love in it

Photo credit: Faces Up Uganda

May I rewind the tape, a bit?
Sure!!!! I can….feel free….some of you might say

Photo credit: Faces Up Uganda

2014….. that’s when it all started
Some hours into the 10^th day of that year
Thass when I made up my mind to begin walking the talk of sobriety
Having realized that my quest to drink away my sadness and pain wasn’t really working after all
 
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The bottle had mocked me, that week, instead of being on my side
And so, I decided to divorce unamicably with it
We had a very interesting relationship from waaaayyyyy back that I so badly wanted to say in, even having discovered that it was abusive and highly consequential.
 
Photo credit: rbth.com

I took step 1 of ending our marriage
Admitting to myself and the world, that I had a problem with alcohol
Without having that step, I don’t know where I would be now
I made a plan, after that, to go and speak with someone about what was going on
Somebody I could trust, admire, look up to and most of all, believe in
I looked around and my clinic of medical insurance popped up in the queue
In there, I met an angel of a lady, Dr. Hope
I don’t know if she’s sure that she did a lot for me, to get where I am now
For a person that didn’t have any formal papers to show for a person in psychology or any form of it’s training
She did the most and the best to direct me back, to my olden days

Photo credit: Charity Pads

So, with her and on her watch, we did 6 solid months of reform, acceptance, grieving, planning and executing a way forward for my life
This was right before I joined the university of Makerere, for my very first time ever
Community Psychology, as a course, class and way of life, has it been to me
I’ve made a number of connections there that I don’t think I would have made, if I had talked with Dr. Hope
Pushing on with my life, was her biggest message that I picked from her talks with me

Photo credit: capitalradio.co.ug

Along the way, I met a much classified family of jolly, sweet angels…. Peer educators during my most active time at Reach A Hand Uganda
With these guys, we made life, we shaped life and directed society and commanded respect wherever we went.
Something some and many of us, still do
Feel free to check us out across the global noticeboard

Photo credit: twitter.com

The highlight of the times came when a number of people began noticing my efforts of change, and were on my “doormat” asking me to join them
That’s when I knew I was on the right path, to where I always pictured myself
By this time, 2016 was setting in and I hadn’t thought even for a second to return to my previous life
So focused on rebuilding my life….in all spheres but most especially, school and work

Youth, health, psychology, mentorship, conflict, the SDG’s among others became my sole purpose of waking up, every day, to do what I do
Am I any happier than I was, back in the day?  Ddaammnnnn right, I am….. I can’t recall a time where 4 years in a row, were so good for and to me
Simply because I was living my life and not the instructions of somebody else
Have I learned anything along the way? A whole lot, yes! So much that I realized to be the kind of person I want, need and desire to be, I must have to drop the thought of using my academic papers to get moving the world where I deem it to
Have I made better choices? A whole lot of them, yes!!!! C’mon….look at me, I can even write down my life’s story without flinching an eye to drop that straw in for some confidence… hehe
Am I sleeping any better? Hahahaaa….a whole 3 hours better than I ever was….
Did my heart heal from it’s wounds? Am sure it did…..after that terrible way it was crushed by the one it desired and wanted to be with. Did I tell you that I only returned to the bottle when my heart got broken?
 
TO SO MANY MORE….